Millions to be invested in New Cross Hospital

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be asked to rubber-stamp the plans by the end of February next year but if he gives the go- ahead, New Cross chief executive David Loughton said today £50 million would be ploughed into the two hospitals he will be running.

Mr Loughton welcomed today's recommendation that the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust takes on Cannock. It means patients will travel to Cannock for elective surgery, with shuttle buses laid on from New Cross under proposals first revealed in the Express & Star.

See also: Scandal-hit Stafford Hospital to be downgraded

The University Hospital of North Staffordshire will take over Stafford Hospital under the plans.

"This is confirmation of what we have been working on for some time now," Mr Loughton said.

"It's a good step for Wolverhampton and Cannock and we are now able to fully understand what it is we have to do.

"A lot of the attention is on Stafford but this has had huge implications on us in Wolverhampton as well.

"I think having in-patient surgery and elective care in Cannock is a really positive move. As a combined emergency and elective hospital in Wolverhampton we are having operations cancelled day after day.

"Having two separate hospitals will help solve that.

"Cannock has not had the same stigma as Stafford and I think this transformation is a small transaction and will easily be managed."

But he admitted it would be a 'big challenge' to encourage patients to travel from Wolverhampton to go to Cannock for treatment.

He added: "The big challenge for us is that we are going to have to encourage patients from Wolverhampton to go to Cannock. I have worked with the council and MPs and we are in a very good place."

He also suggested Stafford Hospital should change its name because of its negative image following the scandal of appalling care there – a stigma Cannock does not have.

Around 800 employees at Stafford and Cannock hospitals will be employed by the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust under the changes and 350 staff from Wolverhampton will be sent to Cannock – 150 more than previously said.

Up to 10,000 patients a year will have elective surgery at Cannock Chase Hospital under the proposals. The extra patients will amount to around £35 million of work each year £50m will be spent on both hospitals.

Some equipment will also be transferred to Cannock.

Cannock Hospital is currently 40 per cent unoccupied.

In the final plans, Stafford Hospital will be downgraded with its services split between neighbouring authorities.

In-patient paediatrics will disappear and critical care and maternity services will be downgraded. A&E at Stafford will remain.

Administrators appointed to draw up a blueprint for the future of Stafford and Cannock believe their overall plans will save about £25 million per year to 2017, while there will be £130m of capital funding to extend services at separate hospitals in Stoke, Wolverhampton and at Walsall Manor.

The proposals require the agreement of independent health watchdog Monitor, which appointed the administrators in April, and the final approval of the Health Secretary by February 26, 2014. Any transition would happen over three years, with the new structure fully up and running by the start of 2017 financial year.

A report released by the administrators states: "The administrators have today issued their final recommendations, which will see nine out of ten patient visits continue to take place locally at Stafford and Cannock Chase Hospitals.

Today's announcement means Stafford will lose in-patient paediatrics while maternity and critical care services will be downgraded. Around 50,000 protesters calling for those services to be retained at Stafford had marched through the town earlier this year, while another march also drew tens of thousands to the streets. There were protests outside today's press conference.